Left views from the right coast

Month: July 2008

Although I am decidedly not a religious person, I amuse myself at times imagining that somewhere, unbeknownst to us, there is a big old ledger book. Within said book is an account of how we die. Perhaps it’s for background checks prior to entry into Valhalla, who knows – it’s made up, after all. If a person passes on in a particularly spectacular fashion, it is noted in the book: “died in a hail of terrorist gunfire while rescuing a school full of orphans” would be one of the better and more heroic ones.

The thought experiment on my part includes coming up with ways I would not want to die – not that I’m anxious to in any circumstances, but I’d like to go out with a little of my dignity intact, if possible. People may not remember you so positively while they say, “Poor old Flash. Imagine, suffocating under a mountain of chinchilla feces”, or, “I’ve never seen anyone shot in the face with an explosive-tipped slinky.” You get the idea. Bizarre, and ultimately humiliating.

I’ve got a new one to add to the list as of this morning. Not so humiliating, but certainly bizarre and disturbing.

Like this:

It’s patently obvious that John McCain has absolutely nothing good to say about himself, his policy platform, or his hope for the future of the United States. That can be the only conclusion one can draw from the dark turn that his campaign has taken. They’ve attacked Obama for wanting to increase oil prices by saying “no” to drilling in ANWAR (even after most economists have agreed that any oil found there would make no appreciable dent in prices), they’ve challenged his patriotism for not visiting the troops in Germany on his recent tour (though it was the Pentagon that told the campaign that they could not), and now they’ve compared him to Britney and Paris for being popular.

John McCain’s campaign is obviously adrift, he is obviously a turd in the punchbowl, and anyone that votes for him is either an idiot or one of the rich-beyond-mere-words that have been further enriched by Bush’s raping of the American economy.

Nevertheless, he will still likely win in November.

There, I’ve said it.

Update: Obama’s campaign has responded with a new ad commenting on how McCain’s campaign has gone negative. Just wait for the McCain response – “Obama Campaign Goes Negative – How Typical Of Them!”

Like this:

In a move that would have appeared obvious a decade ago, were their management the least bit competent, Ford today announced that they will bring a line of small cars to North America to try to claw back some of their staggering $8.7 billion quarterly loss. Ford’s plans, which are laid out with a bit more detail here, include retooling three truck/SUV plants to small cars, doubling production of hybrids by 2009, and doubling their capacity to produce four-cylinder engines by 2011.

A company with the tiniest amount of foresight would have seen that testosterone-dripping commercials about sweaty guys workin’ hard with their trucks in stark shadowy lighting could only carry them so far. For the sake of the American automotive industry, I hope it isn’t too late.

Like this:

In case you need your right-wing silliness levels topped up, here’s a good one from Glenn Beck, CNN’s in-house blowhard: if you wear a Che Guevara t-shirt, you’re probably a terrorist. Yep, always good at turning anything into a screed, Beck has determined that because some of the army officials that pulled off the rescue wore them, they are de riguer in the terrorist set. Not only that, *only* terrorists wear them. See the logic?

Sure, there’s plenty of talk of one intelligence team member, nervous about the mission, who wore a Red Cross symbol against orders. But other accounts confirm the use of something you can probably pick up at any mall: a Che Guevara T-shirt.

That’s right, the same T-shirts you see Hollywood celebrities, starving pseudo-artists and confused hipster teens wearing around local coffee shops. To all those who decide that you want to be coffee house communist-chic, remember this: When you are wearing a Che T-shirt, you’re wearing the same shirt that makes terrorists believe you’re just one of the gang. I hope that latte is tasty.

See that – the people that don’t agree with him seem to all wear them, too – lefties all. Bastards. Commies. He even has to reference that old “latte-drinking” trope. Please, Glenn, what about us black coffee drinking socialists that figure there’s got to be a better way than the “who dies with the most wins” system we have now? Those that, like I think you do, know there is a difference between socialism and communism, and understand that denigrating modern socialists with the “Che” and “communist” brush, is simply an attempt to deny that there just might be a better way to go about business.

You seriously need to get better material – I mean, who writes this stuff? You?

the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below).

This bracelet would:

• Take the place of an airline boarding pass

• Contain personal information about the traveler

• Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line.